bones are crumbling under the monument was more worthy of its praises
than I.

"After I read that, all thought of the possibility of returning, or of
letting them know that I was not dead, dropped from my mind. I plunged
into the furious life of those days with such eagerness and enjoyment
that I lost all desire to go back,--would have had none, even if I had
not disgraced my name before I left.

"Of course, I soon understood that I had been caught in the simplest
sort of a blackmailer's trap. But I had betrayed my father's trust in
me and had gambled away his money, and--what was as crushing to my
vanity as this other was to my sense of honor--I had been duped in a
way that any greenhorn ought to have seen through. So I put it all
behind me and was glad to be alone among strangers.

"I rushed off to the mines, of course, as soon as I could get there,
and I made piles of money, especially at first. And I was probably the
most hot-headed, reckless, devil-may-care young rascal on the whole
Coast. I made many enemies and had many a narrow escape, as most
everybody did in those days.

"Perhaps the closest call I had was at Foley's Gulch. A fellow had
lately come there who thought he could sing. Op'ry Bill, we called
him. We got him started to singing in a saloon one night, and I led
the boys on in making fun of him. We got him wild, but he did n't
offer to shoot, not even when I sent a bullet spinning through his hat.
He knew I was the leader in it all, but he just waited for a good
chance before he hinted at revenge. It was a week or two before the
chance came, and in the meantime he pretended to be friendly with me.